Some Willis residents are opposing K & K Construction's permit application to operate a concrete crusher that has already been in use for a year.

Fewer than 10 people attended the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's public hearing Tuesday evening at the Willis Community Center with the construction company's owner, Darryl Pitcock. He claims an engineering firm he hired about a year ago discovered the need for the TCEQ air quality-related permit after operating the now-broken concrete crusher for about a year off of Farrell Road.

"The community is growing and we can't stop that," Pitcock said. "This is part of that, this is part of growth. My business is evolving. Used to, I would go buy crushed concrete from different companies; so instead of buying it, I decided to process it myself. ... I really didn't realize you had to have one (a permit)."

Willis residents Larry Allen, Chari and James Elam, who live nearby, raised multiple health and safety concerns regarding dust, appearance, an inaccurate address for the filed permit and a history of violations.

Pitcock tapped his fingers and cracked an amused smile as the residents brought up a history of communication regarding their concerns.

"Darryl asked us to please just call," Chari Elam said emotionally. "What we did was keep his nose clean -- each and every thing unrecorded as we played right into it."

The Elam residents have filed for a contested case hearing. The retired couple who run Bluebonnet Beekeeping, said K & K Construction also further endangered bees and pollination.

"Your operation is killing our bees, and I can prove it," said James Elam, who also claims Chari's asthma is worse, which they believe may have been from contaminants she was not aware were emitted into the air by the crusher until recently.

Pitcock addressed the residents' concerns during the hearing and acknowledged his history of violations as hiccups.

"After we got into the permitting process, I mean, I am not in violation by using (the concrete crusher), and that's what they were kind of leaning toward," Pitcock said after the meeting. "We are trying to get our permit and make everything right and it is a process we are going through."

One violation, investigated by the TCEQ from August 2014 through March 2015, resulted in an $11,431 penalty against K & K for a violation of a previous order related to an air curtain incinerator at a Trench Burner along FM 2432 about a mile north of Mann Road near Conroe. The violation information states the business failed to certify compliance for at least a 12-month period following the initial permit issuance, failed to submit a deviation report no later than 30 days after the end of each reporting period, and failed to obtain authorization to operate a source of air emissions. The general operation permit expired in July 2014, and Pitcock obtained a permit by June 2015, according to the TCEQ Enforcement Coordinator's summary.

"A permit had expired and some of that fault could fall into TCEQ, because we issued the permit to move; and every time you move, you have to issue a permit. We didn't know it at the time, but the burner permit had expired and they didn't catch it either until something had come up and there was burning around Panorama; a red flag came up. So everything we had been doing was OK, except the burner had a permit that had expired. The fine had started out at $25,000; but since they kind of didn't help things on their own, they cut it down to that."

Pitcock believes he should have done more research and believes more incidents like this may occur for businesses.

"The county is growing so fast, this stuff is going to happen," Pitcock said. "If I had to do it over again, I would find a piece of property with no homeowners adjacent to it. ..."

However, he denied his concrete crusher was a risk to the community's health and safety.

"They definitely did their homework, they know what they are talking about, but that's way, way over the top," Pitcock said. "I've got men working close to that stuff; and if it was like they said, they would be passing out dead on me. It's not like they are making it out to be. Is it going to harm the bees? No. ... That is more or less their opportunity to strike back at me because everything else is permitted except for that."